As some of you may know Peekaboo was a rescue from West Virginia where the shelter in Annandale, Va. helped me in transport to get both her and Pester Doodle to me here in Mechanicsville, Va. Both were fine little animals, Peekaboo was blind and deaf but got along just fine and was otherwise quite normal. Pester is a ball of fire all the time. Peekaboo developed a hair loss in one spot under her ear and behind her mouth area. I thought she had scratched her fur off to treated her for ear mites. But that wasn't the problem. The a lump began to form that looked like a scar from all that scratching so I treated that with topical disinfectant. But that lump continued to grow. I kept on with the topical stuff but that lump continued to grow and then it was apparent it was not just from scratching. That whole area where the skin was all around the lump was red and fur had begun to stop growing and was falling out. So off to the vet. She was there for a couple of days for observation and x-rays and all. The result was this was a tumor and had grown into her neck muscles and blood supply to the brain. I was told that a operation could be performed to remove this but surviving the operation was really not viable. She would not survive the surgeon. I took her home and returned her to her cage where she was greeted by Pester in due form. Over the term I kept an eye on Peekaboo for radical changes but she seemed to be doing just fine. Last week I did notice she was having allot of difficulty getting up or down the cage ramps. She could not hold her balance and did not have the strength to use them. She ate like a horse which is consistent with cancers, they suck everything out of the blood stream for itself. Peekaboo had lost allot of weight just the same as much as she ate. Lately I could hear all kinds of squealing and noises of what sounded like distress coming from the cage area. It was Peekaboo. She must have been I some sort of seizure from that tumor. She was ok, not trapped or being attacked, but she was obviously in a bad way and there was not one damn thing I could do to help her other than to pet her. She didn't respond for quite a while but eventually would turn to give me all kinds of kisses one after another. Rip my heart out !!!! I had resigned myself to the fact her time was close and I may be 'called' to help her across the bridge. Not a pleasant thought where she was such a gentle animal so very glad to see me and jump into my arms to stay as long as I would hold her. I loved that. This morning I got up as usual and checked on the business to see how they were. Pester was in the upper hammy where she usually was and Peekaboo was curled up in the lower hammy where she usually camped out. Pester came out to greet me but Peekaboo just slept on. So I reached in to give her a shake to wake her up, but she was stiff. Peekaboo had passed on during the night. I buried her next to Byte-me and the others that have passed this last forever home. Sigh. So now I have only Pester Doodle. She will do fine but when she goes looking for Peekaboo that will rip my heart all to pieces. Peekaboo was about 6 years old to my best determination. So for a fert she didn't have a long life, but a reasonable one of a sort. She had a good loving home and lots of out time and good food, lots of it. She was treated with care and respect and most of all lots of love. And she certainly gave that back in many forms. Sigh. So that, folks, is how my day started. Swell. Such is life, nothing remains forever, not even this universe or our planet. Thanks Peekaboo for sharing part of your life with me. -- EnvelopeHow much in your home was made in the USA? No longer are we self suffecient, we are owned by other nations and are at their mercy. [Posted in FML 6799]